The present invention relates to a plug-in module that is part of a toy building block set which can be releaseably attached to one or a plurality of plug-in blocks that make up the construction set.
Cubic toy building blocks that can be plugged into each other are known; these can be plugged together by means of connecting buttons on the side surfaces, the snap connection always being effected with circular buttons and appropriately formed holes in the opposite piece.
Such systems entail the following serious disadvantages:
1. The side surfaces of the cube are not continuous, but are interrupted by holes that are used to accommodate the plug-in buttons, which detracts from their appearance and results in unrealistic models. For this reason, in these known systems, the models that are produced are frequently covered with continuous covering surfaces to which, however, nothing else can be plugged in. PA1 2. The buttons for connecting the parts together are difficult to manipulate when the parts are new and subsequently, after a long period of use, they become loose, so that the pleasure they provide remains limited.
DE-AS 1202694 describes a hollow box-like toy construction element which, on one side, has a row of snap buttons, onto which the side walls of a plug-in element that is installed above them are intended to snap into place. Thus, it is only possible to join one construction element to another on the side that incorporates these snap buttons. Furthermore, it is difficult to bring two adjacent construction elements into the snap position, because the side walls of the two plug-in elements that are adjacent to each other hinder each other during the deflection that is required in order to make the connection.
DE 2920743 C2 describes modules of a construction set. This module is in the form of a hollow cube that is open on one side, which has on its upper side that is opposite the open side of the cube, and on the other side walls, a square connector pin that is arranged centrally. The connector pins are so dimensioned that the open side of the module. A firm connection can only be achieved by means of additional connecting elements. This is a particular disadvantage.
In the same way, DE 1868651 01 describes an element, which is, for example, a cube, and which has snap elements that are intended to be joined to the opposing pieces of a corresponding module. Snap elements in the form of small balls on the corners of a connecting pin are pressed into correspondingly shaped corners in the inside of another element. The plastic deformation that this causes results in material fatigue, and this is detrimental to the long-term use of the module.
AT-PS 327725 shows parts of a construction set of which two-part foldable construction elements are assemblable by producing a snap connection. In order to break this snap connection, it is necessary to squeeze the side walls of the module together. Furthermore, it is not possible to join other modules to the side surfaces that have to be pressed together in order to break the snap connection. A similar idea is described in DD-PS 76418.
It is the task of the invention that is described below to create a plug-in module, with which the above-discussed disadvantages are avoided, and with which the user has the added advantage that he can plug a module onto several surfaces on another module. This results in a considerable increase in its play value.
The result is a plug-in module, one side of which incorporates four slightly springy connectors in a tulip-shaped arrangement, which are in the form of spring leaves that extend outwards from the body of the plug-in module and which can snap onto the other five closed side surfaces of a similarly constructed plug-in module. The closed side surfaces have at least two preferably opposing strips and, at most, four ridges that can snap into the spring leaves of another plug-in cube.